11 Philanthropists Changing The World

Meet the givers poised to join the ranks of megaphilanthropists like Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates.

Nov 15, 2013

Apple Support: Laurene Powell Jobs

Meet the givers poised to join the ranks of megaphilanthropists like Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates.

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Apple Support: Laurene Powell Jobs

Apple Support: Laurene Powell Jobs

GOALS Make college attainable for the poor; reform education and immigration; support conservation and gun control.
METHOD In 1997 Laurene Powell Jobs—Steve Jobs's widow, worth an estimated $11.5 billion—co-founded College Track, which mentors underserved students. She later founded the Emerson Collective, which gives grants to social reform entrepreneurs.
DESERVES AN AWARD FOR Testifying before Congress, despite being press shy, about immigrant children who excel in school but cannot get a job or college funds.

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The Mayor Has Money, Chutzpah to Spare: Michael Bloomberg

GOALS Halt global warming, end obesity, improve American education, increase road safety, promote the arts; In short, save the world.
METHOD Last year alone, Michael Bloomberg distributed $370 million and, over four decades, has given $1.1 billion to his alma mater, Johns Hopkins, via Bloomberg Philanthropies.
DESERVES AN AWARD FOR Pledging to donate most of his $25 billion fortune.

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Nicholas Mele

Raising Billions For A Million Johns: John Kluge Jr.

Giving everyone in the developing world a toilet may seem like an unglamorous goal. But John Kluge Jr., son of the late billionaire television mogul John Werner Kluge, is quick to point out that it's a worthy one: An estimated 2.6 billion people have no access to a toilet, and 750,000 children die needlessly each year because of inadequate sanitation. And so, through his angel investment firm, Eirene, Kluge has partnered with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and others to bring a toilet to every home. Calling himself a "toilet hacker," Kluge says he aims to provide a million of them over the next decade to Africa, Asia, and Central America, which will translate to clean water, less disease, and better education. (Studies show that, after the onset of puberty, girls in particular stay in school longer if they have access to clean toilets.) "I grew up with a dad who fought his way from being a poor immigrant to a very successful place in life. That was due to education," the Columbia graduate says. "But if people don't have access to fundamental human needs like clean water and a chance to live a life of health and dignity, they can't get that education." Kluge is thrilled that the United Nations General Assembly recently announced its support by designating November 19 as World Toilet Day, a milestone that will help mobilize global support for the issue.

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Courtesy of Laura and John Arnold Foundation

Get Tough on Smarts, Smart on Toughs: Laura and John Arnold

GOALS Reform the criminal justice system, improve education, promote government transparency, improve scientific research.
METHODLaura and John Arnold, the youngest signatories of the Giving Pledge, run a foundation out of Houston and New York City. John, a billionaire hedge-fund manager and gas trader, retired last year to focus on philanthropy.
DESERVE AN AWARD FOR Their Moneyball approach to tackling problems effectively.

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The Power of Forgiveness: Amanda Lindhout

While reporting in Somalia in 2008, freelance Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout became the news herself. Kidnapped by fundamentalist teens, who beat and raped her, she was held captive for 15 months. Four years later the 32-year-old refuses to label herself a victim. "Survivor is a much better word," she says. Since her release Lindhout has become the embodiment of forgiveness and resolve with the launch of her Global Enrichment Foundation, which she started five months after her ordeal ended, and the publication last fall of her memoir, A House in the Sky. GEF supports education, community, and food relief initiatives in Somalia. "It surprises people that I made this choice, but when I was in captivity I started thinking about what I was going to do if I got a second chance at life, and I wanted it to be of service," Lindhout says. Her organization specifically targets women and victims of sexual abuse, but it is meant to help all Somalis, including those like her captors. "It's a sad state of affairs, but they were also a product of the war and poverty in their environment," she says. "They had nowhere to turn besides these criminal and terrorist gangs." She has returned to Somalia once since her harrowing experience and is planning another trip. "I want to go back," she says. "In spite of everything that's happened, I would still do it all again."

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Star Lights Up Planet: Leonardo DiCaprio

GOAL Preserve Earth.
METHOD Few childhood heartthrobs become Oscar nominees, and even fewer devote their official fan sites to philanthropy, but Leonardo DiCaprio has done just that. The actor, a passionate conservationist, is a World Wildlife Fund board member; he has lobbied to end tiger poaching and other enviro-crimes, and he donated $1 million to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund.
DESERVES AN AWARD FOR Raising $38.8 million in a single evening. Oh, and he flies commercial.

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Lindsey Thoeng

Crowdsourcing For Good: Jessica Jackley

As the co-founder of Kiva, the first website to allow individuals to lend as little as $25 to entrepreneurs in developing countries, Jessica Jackley knows a lot about making a little go a long way. After attending a 2003 lecture by Muhammad Yunus on providing loans to those who don't have access to traditional bank services, Jackley was inspired to quit her job at Stanford Business School and travel to Africa, where she spent months learning how $100 could improve lives abroad. "What I heard was a story of optimism and success, as opposed to a sad story of poverty and suffering that you often hear from nonprofits," says Jackley, who was intrigued by how technology could connect lenders to specific farmers and craftsmen in countries such as Uganda. Kiva was born after she returned—effectively creating a career niche for herself in championing small businesses, entrepreneurs, and grassroots economic growth. When she's not advising the Collaborative Fund, a venture capital vehicle that invests in projects like Kickstarter and Reddit, or raising her two-year-old twins (her husband is the writer Reza Aslan), Jackley is finishing up a book about her experiences in taking an entrepreneurial approach to good causes.

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Victoria Wills/Splash News/Corbis

The Kids Are All Righteous: Silda Wall Spitzer

GOAL Give kids easy ways to become philanthropic; save the environment.
METHOD After becoming a mother, Silda Wall Spitzer found it surprisingly difficult to find ways for her three daughters to get involved in service, so she started what would become generationOn, which connects high school kids with volunteer opportunities. Since then the former first lady of the state of New York has signed on as a principal at NewWorld Capital Group, a private equity fund that invests in companies that help advance clean energy, and other environmental services.
DESERVES AN AWARD FOR Preaching that business and philanthropy do mix.

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Russell Yip

San Francisco Giant: Trevor Traina

In the wake of the financial crisis, Trevor Traina noticed that many formerly plush charities were struggling to raise funds. He also observed that luxury was becoming increasingly associated with experiences, not things. A serial Internet entrepreneur and perma-tuxedoed philanthropist himself, Traina was uniquely well placed to make such observations—and do something about them. "Celebrity is a bad word," he says, and so his e-commerce site, IfOnly, rounds up an impressive group of "luminaries" to help create an "emporium of experiences" across a range of categories, from sports to wine to music. An average of 70 percent of the proceeds from each sale is donated to the charity of the luminary's choosing. A foursome with Sir Nick Faldo at the Greenbrier costs $200,000, for example, and benefits the First Tee, a junior golf program favored by the former champion. (The priciest experiences tend to be golf-related.) Meanwhile, for $10,000, Alice Waters will squire you around a Bay Area farmers market, fondling heirloom tomatoes, to benefit her Edible Schoolyard Project. And $8,000 gets you a pair of Kobe Bryant's old shoes and goes to his own foundation. Traina will soon add art, fashion, and fly-fishing as experience categories.

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Harlem on His Mind: Geoffrey Canada

Geoffrey Canada speaks, paces, and saws the air like a small-town coach delivering an impassioned pep talk at halftime. Which, in many ways, he is. A native of the Bronx, Canada got a master's degree in education from Harvard and returned to New York, becoming president of the Rheedlen Centers for Children and Families in 1990. By the end of that decade the Harlem Children's Zone, as it had come to be called, had narrowed its focus to a single block, on West 119th Street, but broadened it to include every kid on that block, not just the high achievers. Today the zone spans 97 blocks and includes HCZ's two charter schools, Promise Academy I and Promise Academy II, which operate on an extended academic calendar. Further sequels are sure to follow, but for now admissions lotteries favor low-income and neighborhood children. Canada's team has developed a series of after-school programs for children of all ages, offering fitness, arts and media education, college counseling, and job training, as well as school health clinics and other social services. "We are going to spend money on these kids whether they succeed or fail," Canada says, noting the high cost of mass incarceration. "So this, to me, is a modest investment." "From cradle to college" is his philosophy, although Baby College, a nine-week workshop for new parents, also welcomes expectant ones, so perhaps the motto is too modest.

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The Royal Touch: Princess Madeleine

GOAL Keep children safe from exploitation worldwide.
METHODPrincess Madeleine, the 31-year-old Swedish royal (who's expecting a child of her own) works with the stateside branch of the World Childhood Foundation, which was started by her mother Queen Silvia in 1999. This fall she launched the adorable ThankYou Campaign, which raises awareness for the foundation by allowing people to send free MP3s to those who helped give them a happy childhood.
DESERVES AN AWARD FOR Following in the footsteps of Princess Diana by demonstrating a true connection with the people she encounters through her work.

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